Games of Love and Chance

Games of Love and Chance
by Abdel Kechiche

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Hafet Ben-Ahmed, Nanou Benhamou, Osman Elkharraz, Sabrina Ouazani, Sara Forestier
Director: Abdel Kechiche
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language), Unknown; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Yorker Video

Movie Reviews of Games of Love and Chance

Movie Review: The "Sin" of Being Born Pretty...
Summary: 5 Stars

I very much enjoyed this film, in that its docu-drama, real-time look and feel, at once envelops the viewer and then pulls the viewer right into the action. I was truly uncertain if this was a scripted movie or one that relied (heavily) on improvisation... so "real" do the fast-as-fire dynamics among the wonderful young actors seem. This film, it is true, offers little hope for the young protaganists, living in the real,present-time outskirts of Paris, in their cocoon-ish "public-housing/projects"-world.

For me, the real "truth" of this film is offered by the peer-societal censure of Lydia, the blond, beautiful, passionate young European-looking girl living side-by-side her co-habitants of the projects... all darker-complected and from Muslim Norhtern Africa. Lydia is truly the agent(e)-provocateur/teuse of this film... without wishing it for herself: the blond exotic among the throng of those from "outside", who comprise the majority in the closed, limited world of the projects. Lydia has to be the Star.. in her class' mounting of Marivaux' "Les Jeux de l'Amour et du Hasard" because she is the Star in the lives of all her peers in the projects... she is a Star by-default. Yet, her stardom comes at a price.Her beauty and uniqueness make her the frien-emy of all those who know her.She is accused of leading-on her young childhood friend, Krimo, when his feelings for her change into those of a young man entering adulthood, and she is so startled by the revelation of his new feelings that she is caught totally off-guard.Krimo had asked to be cast as her opposite in the Marivaux play... just to be closer to her... but the "acting" experience is beyond him, rendering him a self-conscious, mumbling, inept failure, ridiculed by the class. Asking for time to assess these new feelings and to determine how she feels able to respond... or not, becomes the impetus for the abuse Lydia suffers from all those who would call her "friend". Krimo, who has fallen so in-love with this childhood friend, now so beautiful, becomes paralyzed by his feelings towards her, and is riduculed by his male friends who tell him that he is ruining his all-important reputation as an alpha-male in the projects.

For me, my feelings go-out to Lydia, and the love-hate relationship she has with all her "friends"; she's far too beautiful and different for her environment; she's a resident-outcast in her own country of origin. At once- the Star, by all who gaze upon her... and at the same time, resented for the same reason.Her only real "sin" was to have born pretty.

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Summary of Games of Love and Chance

A sensitive, daringly original and deeply human portrait of a group of teenagers living in the projects outside Paris and surviving in a world marginalized by society. Set during preparations for a school production, it captures their affections, quarrels and jealousies as well as the budding romance between shy Krimo and Lydia, the fiery blonde star. Krimo, a pre-thug with great, big dreams forms a tight crew with his friends that carries its weight around their dangerous 'hood. Confident and sassy, Lydia is a romantic, stunning beauty driven by passion. Friends throughout their lives, as they move into adolescence, Krimo realizes he has fallen in love. Using the show as a way to get closer to Lydia, Krimo persuades his friend, Rachid, to give up the lead role. Krimo wants Lydia and he's far too smitten to be scared of looking ridiculous in front of his crew. Rejection, seduction, betrayal, and love are the heart of this universal coming-of-age story.

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